Helen Lever
Background
Beginning her career in the Education sector, Helen worked as an academic at the University of Sydney following completion of her Master’s degree. Not surprisingly, with this background Helen has a passion for lifelong learning and professional/ personal development.
In 2006, Helen joined Manly Council and quickly developed a strong commitment to the sector with a passion for advancing the “local government brand” generally and raising awareness of the vast output and importance of the sector in the life of the communities they serve.
At Manly as Manager, Administration Helen had responsibility for a diverse group of portfolios / functions including Mayor / Councillors Liaison and Council meetings, property, records and procurement. She reshaped the Property portfolio and delivered a number of significant commercial projects and reviews of various processes to improve efficiencies across all her function responsibilities along with significant financial outcomes for the Council and community.
After the May 2016 amalgamation of the three Sydney peninsula Councils (Pittwater, Warringah and Manly) Helen was catapulted into the new Northern Beaches Council (along with 1800 other colleagues) where she strongly embraced the challenging and once in a lifetime change environment that arose.
She soon became the Executive Manager, Governance and Enterprise Risk followed by Acting Deputy General Manager, Corporate Services, then finally the General Manager, Customer and Corporate at the now fourth largest Council in NSW.
Her portfolios at Northern Beaches included Finance, Communications and Community Engagement, Legal Services, HR/WHS, Library Services, Customer Service, Governance/ Risk and IT. The staff in her Division alone numbered just under 400.
Helen also performed the role of Acting CEO at Northern Beaches Council during the early part of 2018 prior to the appointment of the second CEO of the new Council.
Academic and Professional Qualifications
Helen has a Master of Education from the University of Sydney in Political Philosophy and Management. Prior to entering the local government sector Helen worked as a tenured lecturer/ academic at the University of Sydney.
